The Slovenian Wildlife

,,Look’’, my friend Primoz said as he pointed towards the woods where we were driving through. ,,Here you can meet a bear anytime. Really. People go all the way to Alaska for that but we have it here in Slovenia as well.’’

I looked around in the 4×4 we were driving and noted with much satisfaction that it could take a beating. We were safe. On our drive through the Dinaric alps of Slovenia we didn’t meet a bear though. But we did see a fox! It was later that day and on another road when a fox crossed just in front of the car. I’m 39 years old and this was the first time I saw a fox in the wild.

The next day my girlfriend and I were cycling when, in a climb, I heard a rustle on the side of the road. At two meters distance I looked in the eyes of bambi; my first encounter with a deer in the wild. After we passed, I asked with a childish enthusiasm: ,,Did you see, did you see?’’ But she just raised her shoulders a bit and said calmly: ,,Yeah what, at home the deers used to come in our garden.’’